MISSIONARY 
WIFE 


MRS. CHARLES KIRKLAND ROYS 


COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE 
AND COUNSEL 


25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY 





THE COMMITTEE ON THE 
PREPARATION OF MISSIONARIES 


The Board of Missionary Preparation for North America 
was created in 1911 by the Foreign Missions Conference of 
North America to make a thorough study of the many 
problems involved in adequate preparation for foreign mis- 
sionary service in all fields. Its membership represented 
Boards of Foreign Missions, general as well as candidate 
secretaries, professors in theological seminaries and in 
special schools and departments for missionary training, 
and others whose study of the missionary enterprise or 
of educational methods especially qualifies them to advise. 

In 1922, the functions of the Board were transferred 
by vote of the Foreign Missions Conference to the Com- 
mittee on the Preparation of Missionaries of the Com- 
mittee of Reference and Counsel. 

The proceedings of this Committee are printed annually 
as a part of the report of the Committee of Reference and 
Counsel and the reports of conferences held under its 
auspices are included in the annual Report of the Con- 
ference. Pamphlets, carefully revised at intervals, are 
issued on the various phases of missionary preparation. 
These pamphlets are widely used by Boards for the informa- 
tion of their foreign missionary candidates. It is believed 
that they meet adequately the needs of such candidates 
for suggestions which may help them to make the wisest 
use of their opportunities during their college and profes- 
sional study. Other series render the same sort of helpful 
guidance to the young missionary on the field during the 
first term of service and in anticipation of the first furlough. 

The Committee holds from time to time conferences 
at which those who are responsible as administrators or 
as educators for the promotion of proper policies in mis- 
sionary preparation are brought together with missionaries 
of experience and with specialists to unite in their formu- 
lation. The reports of these conferences are published by 
the Conference. 

The Committee also employs a Director who gives his 
entire time to correlating and extending its activities. 
Candidate secretaries of Foreign Mission Boards, teachers 
in schools which train missionary candidates, and others 
interested in special problems of missionary training are 
invited to correspond with him at the office of the Foreign 
Missions Conference, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City. 


THE 
MISSIONARY WIFE 


HER PREPARATION, PLACE 
AND PROGRAM 


BY 
MRS. CHARLES KIRKLAND ROYS 


Missionary of the Presbyterian Board in Shantung, China, 1904-1920 
Foreign Executive of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. A, 


PREPARED UNDER THE AUSPICES 
OF THE 


COMMITTEE OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION 


Of the Committee of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions 
Conference of North America 


COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE AND COUNSEL 
25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY 





PREFACE 


The following booklet has been under consideration for 
some time. It was planned in 1920 to be one of the well- 
known series of Board of Missionary Preparation pamphlets 
describing the preparation desirable for various types of 
missionary service. The appearance, early in 1921, of Mrs. 
Platt’s delightful little book, entitled “The Home with the 
Open Door,” referred to in the bibliography at the end of 
this pamphlet, seemed at first sight to render another inter- 
pretation of the significance of the missionary home quite 
needless. From many candidate secretaries, however, espe- 
cially of the Women’s Boards, have continued to come 
requests for a pamphlet, available for ready distribution, 
which should particularly emphasize the details of prepara- 
tion most advisable for a young woman planning to codp- 
erate strongly with her husband on the field, and which she 
might have in mind during her period of anticipation. Like 
all such statements, it presents an ideal and assumes the 
existence of advantages which are sometimes unattainable. 
It must be interpreted and used by each candidate in view of 
actual circumstances. 

The Committee of Missionary Preparation has been for- 
tunate in finding in Mrs. Roys a true interpreter, out of her 
own rich experience, of such dreams and hopes and a wise 
adviser regarding the activities to be anticipated. It grate- 
fully recognizes, also, the continuous and efficient codpera- 
tion of the special editorial committee, Dean Edward W. 
Capen, Chairman, Miss Helen B. Calder, and Professor 
Daniel J. Fleming, appointed in May, 1920, to assume 
general responsibility for completing the whole series of 
reports on types of missionary service. 

This pamphlet is commended to the Boards, their candi- 
dates and missionaries in the confident assurance that it will 
meet a very real need and will find much favor and use- 
fulness. 

On behalf of the Committee of Missionary Preparation, 


FRANK K. SANDERS, 
Director of the Committee 
of Missionary Preparation. 


May, 1923. 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Columbia University Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/missionarywifeheOOroys 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


I. INTRODUCTION 


A group of young missionaries under appointment was 
listening eagerly, nearly two decades ago, to a well-known 
speaker. “I wish to congratulate you women,” she said, 
“but I especially rejoice with those who are going out to the 
field unmarried, for it is you who will really do the work.” 
This judgment is not unusual even today among friends of 
missions who have never visited the field. It was received 
with becoming respect at the time, but experience has shown 
its shallowness and its misunderstanding of the real mission- 
ary situation. It does not belittle the heroic tasks undertaken 
by and developed under the leadership of the unmarried 
woman on the field, when one declares that the opportunity 
afforded the missionary wife yields in no respect to these in 
interest and importance. The two fields of service differ; 
each supplements the other; they should not be discussed in 
terms of comparison. 

There was a time when the married woman received no 
recognition as a missionary. From the administrative view- 
point she was a valuable and necessary adjunct to her hus- 
band. It was her task to maintain his efficiency by carrying 
on a home that would become his haven of restfulness and 
peace. The value of a missionary home may go far beyond 
this definition. It may be established “for the glory of God 
and for the joy of the pilgrims who pass that way”; and it 
may also become a real factor in introducing Christianity to 
a great pagan community. But the making of a home is not 
the only expression of missionary zeal open to the married 
woman on the field. The time has gone by for the query, 
which has chilled the hearts of so many eager young women 
looking forward to the mission field, “Are you a missionary 
or only a missionary wife?” Such a remark reveals lament- 

5 


6 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


able ignorance of a matron’s missionary service with its 
myriad opportunities in the community of which she is a 
part. Occasionally, after the announcement of the wedding 
of a single woman missionary, we hear the exclamation, 
“What a loss!” Does this not indicate a lack of appreciation 
of the opportunities of service on the mission field open only 
to the wife? 

In a volume of missionary letters, written seventy-five 
years ago, are many delectable references to the missionary 
wife as “the humble female” or “the weaker vessel.” One 
“elect lady’ wrote as follows: 


“Much harm and many painful feelings often arise from females 
aiming at a kind and degree of authority and influence that do not 
belong to them. It seems to me out of character for us to come 
spontaneously forward with our advice in the presence of the other 
sex. 


There is a picture of the missionary wife in an essay 
written in 1852, entitled “The Influences of the Piety of 
Christian Females.” 


“She was characterized by the most amiable, affectionate dispo- 
sition which, combined with the delicacy of her constitution, made 
her an object of unwearied attention and watchful care.” 


Her attitude toward domestic duties is thus characterized: 


“The married woman who complains of the narrowness of her 
sphere feels and talks like a Heathen. She virtually professes to 
value the praise of men more than the praise of God, and is likely 
by her impiety and-folly to forfeit -both.” 


And yet, even in those days, there were bold and “fro- 
ward” women, who sought an influence that no modest, 
proper “female laborer” would wish to exert. 





“We never listen to what Mrs. says, though she always 
gives us her ideas as to the points which she hears us conversing 
upon in our conferences. We just wait till she ceases to speak and 
then resume the subject, where she interrupted it.” 


Although the wife of seventy-five years ago was not 
expected to offer her advice, unbidden, in the councils of the 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 7 


missionaries, she certainly was expected to join in the activi- 
ties of the Mission, as the following daily program, sug- 
gested to one of them, shows: 


“At sunrise, after securing the morning’s retirement, give direc- 
tions to the gardener, and proceed to the schools to observe that all 
is in order. Return to the house, examine and direct the bathing 
and dressing of the children, and give them their breakfast. When 
your husband returns from his preaching, sit down to breakfast, 
and, immediately after, proceed to the storeroom, weigh out the 
articles required for the day and order the dinner. Then attend to 
domestic duties, after which your presence will be required at the 
school. The afternoon will be as crowded as the morning, but after 
tea the children go to bed. The evening may be employed in read- 
ing, writing or sewing, and, on moonlight nights, in visiting the 
native Christian families in their cottages, or the orphan school, to 
give the girls a little address. After family prayers at nine, retire.” 


We smile as we read the quaint words of those early 
missionary women, modest in their estimate of their own 
powers of mind, delicate often in physique, many of them 
tenderly sheltered all their lives before going to the foreign 
field; yet where in modern biography do we find better 
examples of conspicuous courage, of intellectual achieve- 
ments in the mastery of difficult languages, or of widespread 
spiritual influence? 


Madame Coillard, of South Africa, after her marriage on the 
mission field, became very homesick. She had been accustomed to 
lead a very active and independent life in Scotland and Paris. The 
change to an African wagon and to the career of a nomad was at 
first extremely trying. Though she kept up a brave appearance, her 
spirits failed. She would be seen poring over home letters and the 
journals of her past life, crying silently to herself. But, one day, a 
strong conviction came to her that this was utterly wrong. She 
burnt all her letters and diaries; and, when her husband met her, 
she exclaimed, “You shall never see me fretting any more.” 

Her courage was often put to the test, for she witnessed many 
scenes of shocking barbarity. But she never flinched. When an 
opportunity was offered to her husband to adopt a safer and less 
arduous sphere of work in Mauritius, and he asked her opinion, 
she refused even to consider the change, saying they must at all 
costs be true to their mission, to which he replied, “Thank God, 
we are of the same mind.” 


8 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


The exceptional opportunities for education open to mod- 
ern women tend to make us forget the really remarkable 
intellectual achievements of some women who went to the 
mission field, fully one hundred years ago: 


Mrs. Robert Clark was a pioneer of medical missions, of women’s 
work in the Punjab, of orphanages, etc. She studied medicine at the 
University of Paris and in the hospitals of that city, an extraordi- 
nary thing then for a woman to do. She was a woman of remark- 
able mental gifts. She spoke with fluency English, German, French 
and Italian. She was an acceptable and effective public speaker; 
she had the pen of a ready writer and was a poetess of high spirit. 
Her versatile genius enabled her to do everything and do it well. 


By virtue of all that the missionary wife has accom- 
plished in the past, and because of her potential influence in 
the future, her position is worthy of careful consideration. 
Many a young woman, asked to go with her fiancé to the 
mission field, may not be able to parallel his course of 
preparation. This pamphlet is written to give her a glimpse 
of the wide-ranging Christian influence which may be open to 
her and to suggest ways of her own preparation for efficiency 
in that career. Oddly enough, little attention has been given, 
either in Great Britain or in America, to such preparation. 


II. Tuer SIGNIFICANCE OF THE Missionary HoME 


The primary responsibility of the missionary wife is in 
the missionary home. Inability to make it what it should be 
is a heavy handicap to her, to her husband, and to others. 
What it may become depends almost wholly upon her, her 
genius, disposition, willingness and devotion to little and 
large things alike. It is her throne, her pulpit, her social 
instrument. Its significance as a missionary institution is 
worth noting. 


1. The Heart of the Missionary Enter prise. 

The home is basic everywhere, but on the mission field it 
is an indispensable agency in community evangelism. In 
Protestant Christianity the unit group is the family. Its first 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 9 


task, wherever the gospel is preached, is to promote the 
organization of Christian homes. The missionary home is 
the starting point and the inspiration for such homes among 
the Christians. When a missionary wife has unusual success 
as a home maker, the result is reflected, not only in the life 
of her own family, or in the comfort of other missionaries, 
but may be seen in the homes of the Christian community. 
Recognizing the family as the fundamental social group, the 
missionary seeks to found a home through which regenerat- 
ing influences shall touch and transform the community. 


2. Christianity’s Best Exhibit. 


It has been well said, “Christianity has in the home its 
sweetest fruits and its most potent influences to humanize, 
elevate and evangelize a race of men.” If this be true among 
Christian peoples, what must be the value of the Christian 
home in a land where Christianity is taking root? It is one 
of the greatest apologetics for Christianity, a concrete demon- 
stration of Christian idealism. Its value is that it is obvious, 
challenging attention. It is a little bit of the best of Christian 
America or Great Britain set down in a non-Christian com- 
munity. It may embody the finest these countries have to 
offer. Those who enter a true home find a haven of joy, 
rest and peace, something the national desires to establish for 
himself, something the missionary calls “‘a bit of heaven on 
earth.” 

The mission enterprise utilizes every agency for making 
an impact on the life of a people—the schools of various 
types, the hospital with its dispensaries and district nurses, 
the church with its out-stations, colporteurs, Bible women 
and evangelizing radius. But the missionary home goes far 
in reinforcing all this varied work. In very truth it is the 
Christian message in action. 


3. A Direct Evangelistic Agency. 

Many who are able to resist the arguments or appeals of 
the missionary are forced to confess the appeal of the Chris- 
tian home. A Greek student once wrote in a class paper: 


10 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


“Nothing in the college in Smyrna impressed, touched and in- 
fluenced the students as much as the attractiveness, the beauty, the 
purity and the Christianity of the home of the missionaries, who 
at all times kept open the doors of their homes and of their hearts 
as well. There boys and girls came face to face with a living, 
loving, contagious, applied Christianity. Asking a student to see 
the baby put to sleep amounted to nothing, perhaps, but it led one 
of the best young fellows in the college to give his life to Christian 
service and ultimately to sacrifice it in serving his enemies.” 


A brilliant student of philosophy, who used to spend his 
evenings in a missionary home discussing deep questions, 
remarked: “Though I could throw down all Mr. ————’s 
arguments, I could not but see, even from his contact with 
the housemaid, that he possessed something which I could 
not understand, something that I lacked.” 

A missionary mother, now on the field, has this to say: 


“Home is the one and only spot upon earth where you have the 
opportunity, unfettered, to reproduce in the power of Jesus Christ 
a plot of the Kingdom and the atmosphere of it.” 


A real missionary home does not happen. It is the fruit- 
age of loving, skilful, sacrificial planning. Its furnishings 
should be as carefully planned as those in our own land. A 
home turned wholly over to servants does not often secure 
this atmosphere. When it is restfully ordered, reflecting 
through some form of music, good pictures, books and maga- 
zines the tastes of the mistress, the people of her adopted 
country quickly sense its beauty and are affected by it. It 
was truly said of a certain missionary wife, refurnishing her 
home which had been devastated during a war, that to give 
her a new tea-service or doilies for her tea-table was as real 
a contribution to foreign missions as a set of text-books or a 
Bible for the school or church. Such a home attracts many 
and wins because it is attractive. Simplicity should be its 
keynote. The lands to which the missionary goes often 
abound in exquisite materials and equipment, which can be 
readily utilized, thus obviating the excessive import of goods 
and furniture from the West. 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 11 


4. An Antidote to Moral Infection. 


A pagan land is a land of low ideals, sometimes of unbe- 
lievable abominations. These are not readily dealt with, 
even if they are visible. The true Christian home with its 
atmosphere of happiness, purity and peace is the most potent 
corrective of low standards of thinking and action for young 
people or old. What else can combat the subtle, demoraliz- 
ing influences, or furnish an antidote against the moral infec- 
tions of a pagan land? To appreciate its value one must 
pass through crowded native streets, touching, it may be, the 
most degraded conditions of human life, and then suddenly 
turn into a missionary compound, to note its simple refine- 
ment, to breathe its atmosphere of purity, and to hear the 
laughter of little children. Arguments may be forgotten or 
may fail to convince the one who is not a Christian; deeds of 
friendliness he may misinterpret or resent; but the silent 
witness of the missionary home is not readily lost. 


Ill. THe Wire’s REvationsuies WITHIN THE HOME 


The home invariably reflects the qualities of the mission- 
ary wife. It is her working center. Should she fail to 
realize the desirableness of an attractive home or be for any 
reason unqualified to create such a home, the result will be 
immediate and disappointing. 

Obviously, however beautiful it may seem, the real value 
of a missionary home as an agency in preaching the good 
news of Jesus Christ depends on its relationships. There are 
four relationships within the circle of intimate home life 
which make or mar its character and affect its influence. 


1. Her Personal Spiritual Life. 

Profoundly important to the missionary wife is her rela- 
tionship to God. The intimacy of her communion with Him 
gives atmosphere to the home and will determine the measure 
of its most uplifting influence. If in all her problems she 
seeks the wisdom promised those who ask, if her life is one 
of prayer and thoughtfulness, its spirit will have transform- 


12 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


ing power for many. It is this necessity which calls for 
thorough religious preparation. 


2. Her Relation to Her Husband. 

The fundamentals which underlie all happy family rela- 
tionships apply in the foreign field as at home, but the fre- 
quent isolations of missionary life make the husband and 
wife more than ordinarily dependent on each other. Such 
isolation, in place of being a sacrifice, may indeed be a real 
blessing, drawing them together as no other situation can. 


“Alexander Duff found his solace and inspiration in his wife. 
She was the warm heart that never failed. From the very first she 
gave him new strength, and left the whole fullness of his nature 
and all his time free for the one work of his life.” 


The question of sharing in her husband’s work is always 
a complex one for a wise wife. It can never be settled by 
others or once for all time. She usually has a certain store 
of time and energy above the needs of household manage- 
ment, which can be drawn upon to relieve him of respon- 
sibility. If she has been trained, even a little, in the keeping 
of accounts, so that her husband can leave the family and 
household expenditures entirely to her, one real burden will 
be rolled away. She can write many of the family and social 
letters. She can support his administration by opening her 
home to his national colleagues or to his students or to digni- 
taries. Sometimes she can accompany him on his itinera- 
tions or share in some of his activities. Such an interest will 
increase the zeal with which he labors so incessantly. 

The husband’s work often means separation from home, 
while he is on mission business. A woman of timid nature 
suffers under the frequent and often long absences of her 
husband, and is tempted to make demands on his time which 
seriously handicap the work. In most cases, however, con- 
spicuous heroism is shown by wives and young mothers, who, 
with fine spirit, take these separations as a part of their share 
in the work. A woman often finds her greatest trial and 
challenge and strain in this matter of necessary separation 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 13 


from her husband, but she will be sustained in it by the sense 
of thus having a part in his achievement. 

Of even greater importance may be her share in her 
husband’s recreative life. The necessity of it she should 
understand. His work, like much of her own, is often tiring 
beyond endurance. It is her privilege to keep the home a 
place of refreshing comfort for him, so that he may retain 
the balance of mind, the hopefulness, the resilience of temper 
so essential to his poise, sanity and strength. To make him 
the confidant of the daily round of domestic “‘woes,” or to add 
to his burden by a tale of loneliness or homesickness, is 
a sorry contribution to missionary morale. 

The wise missionary wife will “take it out” of any one 
rather than her husband, for whom she should be the chief 
purveyor of joy and comfort and courage. Of Mary Moffat 
it is said: 


“She watched over her husband’s health and comfort with a care 
which grew more constant in the fifty years. She felt, what was 
true, that he never would have become the missionary he was but 
for her care of him.” 


For the sake of the steadiness and efficiency of his life the 
wise wife will encourage her husband to cherish some 
“hobby.’’ One missionary lived through years of excep- 
tional strain and overwork, because he kept his boyish 
enthusiasm for making canoes. When perplexed beyond 
endurance by the problems of his work, he would sit down 
in the evening to draw a plan for a new canoe, and come out 
of it refreshed. A famous missionary in India, who lived 
and worked with vigor to an advanced age, maintained his 
reserves of energy by cultivating choice roses and other 
flowers. A few hours of pruning and weeding gave him a 
fresh grip upon his puzzling problems. Calvin Mateer, that 
indefatigable worker, who began his day earlier and worked 
later than the younger men of his station, loved to gather the 
boys together and take a watch to pieces, showing them how 
to fit the parts back into their proper places. Some mission- 
aries relax by following a course of study in archaeology, or 
by some form of research which has no direct relation to 


14 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


their daily responsibilities. Whatever it may be that relaxes 
the strain which the innumerable problems impose upon 
most missionaries, the sympathetic wife will give it all rea- 
sonable leeway and due appreciation. 

It is equally true that she should have some means of 
relaxation. Serenity, poise and sanity of thinking will 
reward the effort. Sharing a hobby with her husband will 
double its value. A husband and wife may enjoy botanizing 
or photography or gardening or any kind of real recreation 
together. Two women missionaries of China found relaxa- 
tion in studying the problems of adapting for interior deco- 
ration a combination of the Oriental and the Occidental 
styles, studying the actual effects produced in the homes of 
cultured Chinese. 

Of very great importance is the sharing between husband 
and wife of the deepest things in the spiritual life. Each 
should seek to understand the finer moods of the other and 
to enter into them with delicate appreciation. When both can 
not only consider, with mutual helpfulness, the religious 
problems of other people, but can gain a real inspiration 
by realizing the true foundations of each other’s deepest life, 
the relationship of husband and wife will find its sweetest 
and finest expression. 


3. Her Relation to Her Children. 

Happy is that missionary wife whose children make the 
home complete! In their earliest years they preclude many 
forms of outside service, in which she may have shown great 
skill, yet they hold a very real place in the missionary value 
of the home she is building. Nationals readily love the little 
white child, and claim it as belonging to them. A foreign 
baby overcomes indifference and even hostility. Memory 
recalls an angry mob, infuriated at the “foreign devils,” 
which became a crowd of ardent admirers, when the chair- 
bearers cried, “Make way for the small baby; she’s as white 
as a woolly lamb!” 

Although a missionary wife may be kept within her home 
while her children are young, yet her experience as a mother 
enables her later to do highly important missionary service 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 15 


by sharing her ideals with mothers who need her helpful 
sympathy. Common experiences of motherhood make the 
best possible foundation for real friendships. The ignorant 
mother who comes to watch the processes of loving care, not 
only learns to bathe or clothe or feed or train her own little 
child, but has an opportunity to hear about the love of Jesus, 
who came as a little child and who loved to have children 
about Him. 

The problem of growing children in the missionary home 
is one that tests to the utmost the constancy and the character 
of the parents. Upon the mother rests, as a rule, the details 
of responsibility. Unless the station is in or near a city of 
central importance with an adequate number of British or 
American inhabitants, the task of teaching the little ones 
until they have to go to America or to some available center 
of education will be hers. It is advisable for the missionary 
fiancée or wife to do her utmost to gain some insight into the 
best methods of educating children and some knowledge of 
elementary curricula. 

How far the wise missionary mother should go in sharing 
her children with her neighbors among her adopted people is 
a momentous question for her and for them. The sanitary 
conditions of many Oriental cities demand thoughtful protec- 
tion against disease. The moral and social conditions of 
many communities are equally dangerous to young and sen- 
sitive minds. Yet the wise missionary mother may, if she 
really wishes to do so, share her children in a reasonable 
way with the child-loving Eastern or other folk. Contact in 
the Sunday school or in the garden of the missionary home 
with native Christian children is natural and need not be 
morally dangerous, although contact with the non-Christian 
children of the city or country often is. Without this brave 
and loyal sharing of the missionary’s best with others her 
work tends to become professional. It takes sincere conse- 
cration and abundant common sense to assume that God will 
shelter little children as well as grownups in their contacts 
with their adopted people; but, if the missionary mother 
cannot cultivate this attitude of mind, her position will be 
both difficult and misunderstood. “To be in all respects a 


16 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


careful mother, but one ‘without carefulness’ guarding 
against undue anxiety” is indeed a valuable maxim. 

On the mission field, as at home, the mother must meet 
moral emergencies as she meets physical ones, with coolness, 
tact and constructiveness. The problem is a great one; it 
never reaches a final solution; it calls for constant watchful- 
ness; but it is not by any means insoluble. Here again 
should be noted the importance of training in the homeland 
in the methods of character development. It will help the 
young mother to know how others have met urgent problems 
in the training of young minds, yet her task will be all her 
own. She should not fail to teach her children by. precept 
and example the importance of the religious point of view in 
everyday life and the meaning and value of missionary serv- 
ice. Their future character, their estimate of Christianity 
and of Christian virtues and standards will be low or high, 
their social sympathies will be broad or narrow, their per- 
sonal manners will be charming or crude, almost in propor- 
tion to the share of their parents in their growing lives. One 
observant woman writes: 


“Not long ago one of the graduate nurses at Clifton Springs, 
who has had ample opportunity to see missionaries and who sees 
them sympathetically, said, ‘I wouldn’t say so to any one that 
wasn’t in favor of missions, but I have never seen such naughty 
children as the missionary children nor such rude young people 
as they are when they are older. I suppose it is from such constant 
living with servants. They are so selfish and domineering. I have 
to spend all my time explaining to the other girls.’ Another gradu- 
ate nurse who had the care of a missionary child while his mother 
was undergoing an operation, said, ‘It was just pitiful to see a little 
boy so dependent on somebody to do everything for him. He had 
no initiative, even in play. He missed his nurse dreadfully.’ 

We had the great privilege of knowing well two of China’s most 
renowned pioneers during the last years of their lives. Both were 
men to whom everyone looked for wisdom and to whom everyone 
looks back for inspiration. But not one of the children of either 
one of them had one bit of use for missionary work. In fact, the 
ones I know of well are either definitely opposed or outspokenly 
neutral. The only explanation we could ever get for this was that 
‘Mrs. was not careful in their teaching.’ When we see the 
wonderful work of ‘second generation’ missionaries we cannot help 





THE MISSIONARY WIFE | LZ. 


mourning that any mother was more taken up with the Lord’s work 
for others than with the Lord’s work for her children.” 


From the story of the work of early missionaries comes 
the following illustration of what courage and determination 
may do: 


“Very tender was the bond between the children and this most 
loving and understanding of mothers. When her son told her of 
his resolve to be a missionary, she said, ‘All the years you were at 
home from your earliest childhood, as boy and lad and young man, 
do you know what was my last act every night? I bent over you 
while you slept and prayed God to make you his missionary servant. 
So my prayers are answered today.’ 

When this child was six months old he was given up by the 
doctors in Peshawar. They declared that only a cold climate could 
save him. The mother rose to the occasion. The mountains looked 
down on Peshawar—uwild, inhospitable, full of cruel men, and very 
dangerous but cold. ‘I will camp on these mountains in spite of 
every danger and difficulty,’ she said; ‘my child shall not die if the 
cold can save him.’ And camp on them she did, with soldiers to 
guard her tent. It was adventurous work. One night she woke up 
to find a panther in the tent in the very act of attacking her infant; 
and if she had not, with the greatest courage and presence of mind, 
snatched up a stick from the smouldering fire and thrust it full in 
the animal’s face, her child would not have lived to be a mis- 
sionary.” 


4. Her Relation to Her Servants. 


Generally speaking, the missionary wife will have the 
management of a household of some size. In tropical coun- 
tries she must have servants and will have little difficulty in 
obtaining them, such as they are. A training in household 
economics and management is a godsend to a young wife on 
the field, even though every illustration of the principles she 
has mastered may be wholly unfamiliar. Skilled housekeep- 
ing is a science and art. Its presence or absence affects 
greatly the peace, order and happiness of the missionary 
home, as the following tribute to a missionary wife who 
lived nearly one hundred years ago proves most conclusively: 


“She possessed the administrative faculty to a very high degree. 
She laid out her work beforehand; she saw clearly what was to be 


18 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


done and how it was to be done; she ascertained what labor she 
could command; she gave her instructions so definitely that the 
work was always well done, and the workers were never oppressed. 
Everything went on like clock-work. A gentleman from Sydney, 
who was staying at her home for a short time, was so struck with 
the punctuality of the meals, that he said, one day, ‘I have lived on 
board a man-of-war, and in many places where order reigned, but 
I have never seen punctuality like this.’ At the meeting of the 
mission synod she often seated twenty for dinner and for all other 
meals during a week or ten days at least; yet so thorough were her 
arrangements that the captain of the ‘Day-Spring’ said that she 
could have conducted the commissariat department of a man-of- 
war.” 


Such genius for management need not interfere with the 
beauty and gladness of an ideal home. 

Not only in the missionary home, but in the Mission at 
large a woman’s skill in housekeeping is felt. Long before 
there were departments of domestic science and of training 
in household management, missionary wives made a large 
contribution to the work of the Mission as a whole in the 
sphere of their kitchens. Here is an illustration out of the 
middle of the nineteenth century: 


“There was one mission meeting at which there were thirty or 
more missionaries and an equal number of natives, with fourteen or 
fifteen children, to be provided for. The missionary wife, for two 
or three weeks previously, had made the following plans: she had 
advertised for fowls, buying every one that was brought to her until 
her coops were full; she spoke to every fisherman on the shore to 
keep her supplied with fish during the meeting; and she laid in 
other supplies. She had two kitchens, one of them a temporary 
erection, with an American stove in each. She prepared a dozen 
bedrooms, the majority of them extemporized, of course, but all of 
them supplied with everything necessary. In these circumstances, 
with guests all agreeable, and all willing to be pleased, the meeting 
proved very enjoyable, and to most of the visitors the only regret 
was that their stay could not be further prolonged.” 


Especially are the young wife’s standards revealed by 
her management of her servants. It is easy for Westerners 
to fall into the Oriental habit of treating them as menials 
who work for a wage. But the gospel of brotherliness and 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 19 


love should be preached in the home as well as on the street 
corner. It is a sad commentary on that gospel, as set forth 
in some missionary homes, that many of the servants are 
not at all attracted by Christianity. It is not difficult to give 
zealous servants their reasonable share in the home life 
without losing the needful respect which they should pay 
to the heads of their household. What eager service is often 
rendered in the preparation for expected guests, when house- 
hold helpers are told something about the visitors before 
their arrival. 

In most cases the servants in a missionary household are 
kept away from their own homes. It should be the pleasure 
of the missionary wife to enable them to live a wholesome 
life of their own, properly guarded and developed. To 
some degree they can share the joys of the home and the 
problems of the work of each week. Reading matter pur- 
chased for their use, pictures shared with them, and recrea- 
tion for their idle hours—these measures of thoughtfulness 
will be richly repaid by devoted and intelligent service. 

Missionary children reflect with accuracy the real atti- 
tude of their parents toward their servants. Some children 
are insufferable in their discourtesy and unreasonableness. 
One who has spent several weeks on an ocean liner or even 
half a day in some missionary compounds will notice illus- 
trations aplenty of this lack of gentle breeding. The wise 
missionary mother will encourage her children to recognize 
courteously every service rendered. Courtesy, that fine 
flower of the spirit, when practiced by mistress and children, 
will bloom among the servants. “Sankee you” was famil- 
iarly heard from the Chinese in a missionary home, where 
the rule of courtesy was followed.. The friendly “Good 
night” and “Good morning” were soon learned, although 
there were no equivalents in the native tongue. They speak 
a universal language which needs no interpreter. 

The mastery of these relationships is a matter of no 
small moment. Frequently the real reputation of a mission- 
ary in his community is settled by the working standards of 
his home life, reported by his servants and coworkers. There 
is, however, a broader significance of the missionary home. 


20 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


IV. RELATIONSHIPS REACHING OUTWARD FROM THE HOME 


A happy missionary wife and mother in her own home 
is often tempted to give herself entirely to its requirements, 
satisfied to make it a true haven of restfulness and happiness 
for those. who are near and dear, whose tasks are so impor- 
tant. But a missionary home may have a very wide range 
of usefulness. It should be the clear duty of the missionary 
wife in many situations to plan with tact and persistence to 
give to her home this additional, far-reaching value. 


1. Relationships with the Local Christian Community. 


The missionary wife who truly wishes to use her home 
as a means of blessing to the people to whom she and her 
husband have dedicated their lives faces the most searching 
and delicate test of all missionary consecration. To succeed 
in this effort will call for much more than tact or good 
humor or even devotedness. She may find many other forms 
of missionary activity relatively simple in comparison. 
Teaching or visiting or translating or doing some form of 
hospital service may be performed after a fashion, while in 
her home the wife may fail. Success means overcoming a 
natural shrinking from intimacy with a people whose heri- 
tage, points of view, and manners seem altogether different; 
it may mean the sacrifice of a life of privacy. It always 
means continual interruptions; very often, wearisome and 
seemingly wasteful hours of small talk; it takes a real toll 
from every missionary activity. Yet such home service 
unquestionably bears rich fruitage. It demands a careful 
study of indigenous etiquette, so that what sometimes seems 
to be the trifling predilections of the people may be respected. 
It challenges the missionary wife to cultivate an understand- 
ing of the true values of her adopted people and to persist 
in a determination to take them at their best. But the most 
essential factor, after all, is the warm heart of the mission- 
ary wife manifesting a sincere friendliness. 

What an “open house” may mean will really differ 
according to the country and the situation of the woman 
whose home is concerned. One missionary wife of long 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 21 


experience and deep sympathy was able to exert an unex- 
ampled influence among the women of her district. Her 
habitual method was to take her sewing to a shaded corner 
of the spacious veranda on certain afternoons, at which 
time the women of the district knew that they were welcome 
to bring to her informally, as they sat in turn on the veranda 
at her feet, their problems, joyous and sorrowful. It was 
declared with considerable truth that few if any marriages 
or important social events took place in that area, except 
after consultation with her. Probably she never had occasion 
to entertain at her table the women of that community, since 
it would not have been in accordance with the customs of the 
country. On the other hand, in some countries, and notably 
today, nationals of good social standing would be quick to 
resent a marked distinction between themselves and foreign 
guests, particularly if they were excluded from portions of 
the missionary home into which the others were welcome. 
The missionary home ought not to be a means of raising 
race barriers, but rather a notable means of levelling 
them, wherever that is possible. Nationals of any race 
realize it very quickly, if only the second best of the mission- 
ary home life has been granted to them. For none others 
should the missionary wife be so eager to wear her prettiest 
gown, to use her choicest dishes, to plan her most entertain- 
ing games. Many a student and diplomat to foreign coun- 
tries has learned his first lessons in foreign etiquette in a 
missionary home. But the results of missionary friendliness 
do not accrue only to the national who is a guest. To the 
home-maker, who thus as a matter of consecration tries to 
share her home with those who need its influence, Christ 
Himself will often come in the person of a guest. 

To maintain “the home with the open door” is some- 
times an exasperating business. Visitors, especially those 
of the country who have had little contact with foreigners, 
sometimes transcend the privileges offered to them. Women 
love to see the foreigner’s bedroom, to pull off the bedding 
and feel of the mattress, to see the baby’s bathtub, to be 
introduced into the intimate details of the family life. Men 
guests also have their little exacting ways. A certain man- 


22 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


darin in China always threw one entire household into a 
state of panic, for he was wont to show his friendliness by 
devouring the entire cake intended for the family tea for 
two or three days! Such incidents, however, are like many 
accidents; they furnish amusing memories, but are not fatal. 
They call sometimes for real generalship in order that the 
sanctities of home life shall not be needlessly sacrificed. 


2. Relations with Other Missionaries. 

Little need be said about the use which will be made of 
the home in the missionary community itself. Where there 
is a group of such homes, their interchange of courtesies 
goes far towards relieving the strain of missionary life. 
They share the joy of little children, and of the treasures 
which come from the homeland. They rely upon the com- 
radeship engendered. The more important use of a happy 
home in missionary circles is on behalf of the unmarried 
missionary, the pressure on whose time often reduces his 
home joys to a minimum, or on behalf of the tired worker 
who, for some reason, is compelled to return to an empty 
house. A tactful hostess can, abroad just as at home, do 
much to maintain the morale of the community of which she 
is an essential part. In some centers such responsibilities 
may become very heavy. In one port city, through which 
many traveled, one missionary household recorded—let it 
be said, with some pride and not without satisfaction—the 
entertainment of 395 nationals and 225 missionaries for at 
least one meal and of 22 over night during a single month. 
This was, however, an unusual experience at the time of an 
important gathering. 


3. Relationships with the Foreign-Born Community People. 

A very large number of missionaries are so situated to- 
day that they may come into a relationship, to a greater 
or less degree of intimacy, with young men and families 
from the homeland, who are in business in their adopted 
country. Unfortunately, through inherited prejudices and 
for other reasons which will be fairly obvious, the mission- 
ary community and the business community have often not 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 2a 


been close together. There are, however, in all cities and 
towns of importance on mission areas, young men who 
should be made to feel that the missionary home is always 
open to them. Many a mother in America or England, hear- 
ing of her son’s difficulties in living a clean, true life because 
of the downward pull of his non-Christian environment, is 
inclined to remark, “Why don’t the missionaries take my 
boy into their homes, now and then?” Such mothers are, of 
course, unacquainted with the fact that the fault may be 
two-sided; but the chasm between the community people and 
the missionary circle is, too often, fairly to be laid at the 
door of the missionaries. These mutual prejudices ought 
to be broken down, and will be, when the spirit of friendli- 
ness is cherished rather than that of censoriousness. What- 
ever can be gained through friendly hospitality in improving 
the type of life of business people is a direct, sometimes 
enormous gain to Christianity itself. 


V. Her Possisiuitres AS A MIsstIoNARY OUTSIDE OF 
THESE RELATIONSHIPS 


The modern-minded woman sees in marriage not only a 
life partnership, rich in creative fellowship in work and 
ideals, but also an opportunity to make a unique contribu- 
tion to her generation as an individual. The missionary 
wife does not, therefore, conclude her responsibilities with 
the above described relationships within and beyond the 
home. In addition to caring for the family and making her 
home highly efficient as a community influence, she may 
frequently also assume some of the responsibilities which 
are undertaken normally by her husband or by the unmar- 
ried women of the mission staff. The wife’s activities are 
by no means limited to what can be done in the shelter of 
her home. A missionary mother in Japan, who most efh- 
ciently carries a large share of station responsibility, reso- 
lutely set herself, while her children were small, to doing 
some one, definite piece of mission work outside of her home, 
thus training herself for the time when they did not need her, 


24. THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


For the missionary wife to have a definite and respon- 
sible connection with some form of organized missionary 
work outside the walls of her own home gives tone to her 
own Christian living and thinking, and should not be an 
undue tax on any normal woman. She is more than a help- 
meet for her husband; her ambition should be to do far 
more than merely make it possible for him to do his mis- 
sionary work. Life on the mission field offers one of the 
finest opportunities for a perfect comradeship between man 
and wife. The husband is as vitally concerned in the home 
as is his wife; the wife is as vitally concerned in the work 
as is her husband. In such a codperative spirit the adjust- 
ments of home life will naturally be made with reference to 
the particular needs of the situation and not on any artificial 
basis of a supposedly clearly defined “‘woman’s sphere.” 

The wife should, therefore, expect to have a distinct part 
in the work as an individual. She can make her own unique 
contribution in some definite bit of creative missionary 
activity, thus as a trained individual expressing her own life. 
Many married women care for the supervision of schools or 
the work of Bible women. Others carry on regular, sys- 
tematized evangelistic visitation, often itinerating with their 
husband and children, or they teach English classes or music 
or supervise industrial or social work. There are abundant 
opportunities for those who can enter into them. As a 
responsible member of the mission, and not merely “her 
husband’s wife,” each one can and generally does assume 
some part of the responsibility for station work. Whatever 
experience she may have accumulated during her growth 
into womanhood in the way of teaching, nursing, manage- 
ment, etc., will be a real asset and will always find ways of 
continued expression. 

In a general way the growing task of a missionary wife 
is that of dealing with the rapidly enlarging social circle of 
those who know and trust her. She can go enthusiastically 
and with full sympathy and influence into circles where 
the unmarried woman missionary will have a certain amount 
of difficulty. Opportunities for Bible reading and for simple 
instruction with small groups of married women furnish a 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 25 


very common opportunity for service among the class of 
women who have considerable influence, but are in more or 
less seclusion. The extent to which the missionary wife can 
carry on such work depends entirely on her health and 
strength and on the need for such work. It is natural for her 
to be interested in movements which deal with the needs of 
little children or which better the social conditions of native 
women. The more she can fit herself for the superintendence 
of such movements, the wider in range will her influence 
become. What a tribute to the value of this form of mis- 
sionary work is found in the following words: 


“My wife never thought of herself but as an ordinary woman, 
doing nothing but what any one might do. She aimed at nothing 
that was out of the way, nothing romantic, nothing heroic. Her 
ambition was to multiply herself. She trained so thoroughly the 
girls living on the premises that when large classes were collected, 
she divided them, setting one of her own well-trained girls over 
each class, and in this way female education and a knowledge of 
sewing were extended. 

In heathenism the women were so downtrodden by the men, that 
they would never have come to me, being a man, to speak about 
anything. But she, being a woman, was recognized as their friend; 
and as they came to know her, their confidence increased. Hence 
they came to her to explain all their ailments and unbosom all 
their griefs and sorrows. In this way, through her, I gained a 
great amount of valuable information. With the knowledge thus 
acquired, I could often bring about either the prevention or cure of 
evils, as the case might require. 

My wife took a great interest in the native children, especially 
the female children, who are sadly neglected in heathenism. On 
one occasion a woman near us gave birth to a daughter. She cried 
out to the women beside her, ‘Kill it! Kill it!’ My wife set herself 
to save the infant girls. She told the women she would give a nice 
dress to every little girl brought to her as soon as possible after the 
child was born. She used to kiss the baby, praise its bright eyes 
and speak kindly to the mother. From that day to this there has 
not been a girl killed in Aneityum, nor seriously injured.” 


VI. QUALITIES TO BE CULTIVATED 


In the last analysis the missionary wife is like any other 
wife the world round. She has to meet emergencies in the 


26 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


same variety of ways, depending on inborn characteristics 
and on those which may be cultivated. Some of the qualities 
of mind and heart which a missionary wife can cultivate 
advantageously may be suggested. 


1. A Cheery, Friendly, Sympathetic Personality. 


Even one such woman in a missionary group can do 
much toward upholding the courage, the aggressiveness and 
the morale of others. In an alien country, where condi- 
tions must often be faced which are depressing, such a per- 
sonality will not only maintain the tone of her immediate 
family, but often of the whole community of which she is a 
part. A sense of humor will be of the utmost value to her, 
saving the day in many a trying situation. Activity will add 
the joy of achievement and leave no empty hours for dis- 
content. 


2. The Habit of Patience. 


One of the hardest lessons for every missionary to learn 
is the necessary adaptation to a new environment. At the 
best an Oriental represents an unfamiliar mode of thought 
and habit. To appreciate the good in him and to be able to 
see daily life from his own standpoint take time and unend- 
ing friendliness and patience. It is well to begin as soon as 
possible to cultivate self-control, the ability to see another’s 
point of view and a willingness to wait for results. 


3. Capacity for Codperation. 

A missionary community ought to be one great family 
circle. It demands from every member a willingness to 
cooperate with others. It is especially needful that each 
wife should “play the game” in the great codperative task 
of missions; doing real team work herself, and supporting 
more than her husband or family. The wise matron not only 
plans for her husband or family or group of nationals, but 
she also does her part in a larger way, endeavoring to dis- 
cover what supplemental service she is best able to render to 
the mission community. This is, of course, determined by 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE Qik 


local conditions. One who has the real codperative spirit 
will have an enviable opportunity to render valuable service 
to the entire station. Partizanship, jealousy or fault-finding 
in place of friendliness and a spirit of unity can wreck any 
mission. One unfriendly, bitter personality can add vastly 
to the load which all are carrying. To work for individual 
ends rather than for the good of the whole community is a, 
if not the, cardinal sin. 


4. A Resolute Spirit. 

Modesty and reserve are admirable qualities in their 
place, but the woman who takes her full share of the life 
of the missionary community must have as well a spirit of 
determination which does not flinch before unexpected ob- 
stacles. A missionary often deals with people who are 
repulsive in appearance. Mary Slessor once said: 


“We need consecrated, affectionate women who are not afraid 
of work or filth of any kind, moral or material; a woman who can 
care for a baby or teach a child to wash and comb itself, as well as 
read and write; women who can tactfully smooth over a roughness 
and for Christ’s sake wear a smile, taking any place that may be 
open. If they can play Beethoven and paint and draw and speak 
French and German, so much the better; but we can overlook all 
these accomplishments, if they only have a loving heart, willing 
hands and common sense.” 


The missionary wife will often find herself compelled 
to initiate and finish enterprises with little help from others. 
Good judgment, faith in herself, the courage to proceed— 
these are characteristics earnestly to be cultivated. 


5. A Fine Mental and Spiritual Outlook. 

The habits of good reading, of high standards of conver- 
sation, of friendliness in judgment, of persistence in some 
form of study for the enrichment of the mind and soul are 
invaluable to the one who seeks to become a useful member 
of the mission community. In any group isolated from its 
kind, whether it be at an army post or on a mission com- 
pound, the spirit of criticism may, like a hot iron, sear the 


28 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


very life of the community. No one has a greater oppor- 
tunity than the missionary wife in her home to meet this 
condition. She has it in her power to kill instantly the 
unkind word or to give it fresh vigor. When she “thinketh 
no evil,”’ her mental attitude is quickly reflected by her chil- 
dren, her husband and her friends. Happy is that commu- 
nity which has a home where it can be said of the mother: 


“Strength and dignity are her clothing. 
She openeth her mouth with wisdom, 
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” 


6. In General. 


It is idle to attempt a list of the choice qualities which 
one who is to assume the important tasks of the missionary 
wife should covet for herself. Whatever makes a woman 
beloved and trusted and honored at home finds its place in 
life on the foreign field. Every quality that makes for fine 
womanhood finds its appointed use. Above all specific qual- 
ities stands that self-command, that poise of mind and heart, 
which enables a woman to use all her powers in the execu- 
tion of the plans to which she is dedicated. 


VII. ABILITIES TO BE TRAINED 


A missionary wife and mother on the mission field, 
whose new home is not in a great city, needs to be efficient 
in a variety of ways. One young missionary on his first 
furlough declared that, before he returned to his field, he 
was going to learn how to dig a well, to fill a tooth and to 
build a chimney. A woman’s tasks are no less varied. 


1. Simple Medical Skill. 


In foreign cities the resources to which we are accus- 
tomed in America are sometimes available. But the vast 
majority of missionaries live outside of such cities, and must 
depend largely on themselves. The missionary wife is fre- 
quently the one who ministers to the simpler physical ail- 
ments of her household and of many in the community. She 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 29 


ought to be acquainted with the principles and with the 
standard methods of hygiene and sanitation, with first-aid 
knowledge, and with the use of simple medical remedies. 
A knowledge of the simpler duties of nursing will be very 
helpful. Such readily procured reference books as the Red 
Cross Handbook or First Aid to the Injured are invaluable 
additions to each home library. The Child Labor Bureau 
in Washington issues a number of very useful pamphlets. 
The one entitled “The Pre-Natal Care of Children” will be 
helpful for a missionary wife to use in connection with her 
work among women. 


2. Home Management. 

The missionary wife and mother is the commander-in- 
chief of all home interests, taking the responsibility for all 
sorts of decisions. Her husband has unending and wide- 
ranging responsibilities of his own and should be free from 
those which she can assume. Her capabilities in relation to 
her household will be tested from every angle. All kinds of 
practical efficiency will be of value. It is often necessary 
io order family supplies and clothing many months in 
advance. Emergencies may require the making of a child’s 
wrapper and a pair of trousers out of an old riding habit 
and a long cloak out of a portiere! Whatever she has learned 
to do will be an asset in her experience on the foreign field. 
An elementary course in dressmaking and millinery is 
valuable. 


3. Skill in Social Guidance. | 

All over the world today woman is wielding new power. 
The ablest women, even in the country where the seclusion 
or effacement of women is a tradition, are making their 
influence felt in the amelioration of social and industrial 
conditions, which affect seriously the lives of women and 
children. They are becoming alive to the dangers of intem- 
perance, ignorance, the social evils and the methods of 
unscrupulous industrialists. Those who go to the mission 
field during the next quarter century will not only witness 
vast social changes but, willingly or otherwise, will share 


30 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


in them. Young women can secure valuable help from the 
investigation of work in social hygiene as carried on in this 
country. 


4. All-Round Efficiency. 


Speaking broadly, the missionary wife finds all kinds of 
practical efficiency of value. Not every valuable missionary 
wife possesses that efficiency, but she regrets its absence. 
The more things she knows how to do, the more wisely she 
can direct the actions of others, and the more surely she can 
surmount the innumerable obstacles which will lie in her 
pathway. 


VIII. Preparation aT Home 


The price of real efficiency on the mission field is careful 
preparation. Just as soon as a young woman begins to count 
upon living her life abroad, she should begin to take advan- 
tage of her opportunities to get ready for that career. 


1. Preparation at College. 


Since the missionary wife, like her husband, is subject 
to a great variety of demands, she, too, should have a broad, 
well-balanced college course, or its full equivalent in train- 
ing. Nowhere does a cultured woman have a wider range of 
influence than on the mission field. In these days when so 
large a proportion of the courses in college are elective, it 
may be helpful to call attention to certain subjects which may 
wisely be emphasized by one who looks forward to married 
life on the mission field. 

(a) An Acquaintance with the Bible—The mastery of 
the Bible lies at the very basis of the efficiency of the mission- 
ary wife in her opportunities for teaching and for dealing 
with individuals. She should aim to know the Bible as an 
historical whole and to have some training in its interpreta- 
tion and use. A friendly talk with the head of the Biblical 
Department in the college regarding needs and plans will 
usually result in helpful counsel regarding the specific 
courses to be chosen. 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 31 


(b) Literature and History —rThe study of life and of 
literature greatly enlarges the cultural resources of a mission- 
ary wife. They yield a wholesomeness of viewpoint, an 
interest in world affairs, and a breadth of interpretation with 
reference to the historic movements of the day which cannot 
be overvalued. 

(c) Domestic Science and Household Economics.—Every 
good home-maker needs to know food values, how to pur- 
chase supplies, the principles of nutrition, the different styles 
and qualities of cookery, the art of preserving supplies and 
the efficient organization of household affairs. 

(d) The Social Sciences——A basal course in economics 
and sociology is most valuable. The social problems of an 
Oriental or Latin community are those which come most 
directly and prominently to the attention of the missionary 
wife. She ought to be able to see them clearly and to judge 
them dispassionately. She will have abundant opportunity 
for leadership in dealing with such problems, whether moral, 
industrial or national. Some knowledge of the ways in 
which serious community problems are dealt with at home 
will go far in fitting her for such leadership. Where practice 
work of this sort is not available during college years, it 
may be practicable to take a short course at a good summer 
school of social work. 

A good course on ethnology, not too technical, is worth 
taking, whatever bears on the customs of other people or on 
their vital qualities. Such instruction is sometimes a part 
of a broader course in social institutions. It helps one to 
enter appreciatively into a strange environment, and to make 
a friendly estimate of a new people. 

(e) Educational Psychology and Educational Methods. 
—These are subjects of great importance to all missionaries, 
whether educators or not. Few of them escape some educa- 
tional responsibilities. Moreover, the effective application 
of many of the other studies mentioned above or of the 
results of a wide-ranging college training may depend, within 
the missionary home or without, on such an educational back- 
ground. 

(f) Religious Activity——One who plans to go to the 


32 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


mission field is likely to have gained some active religious 
experience in the Young People’s Society of the church or 
in the Young Women’s Christian Association of the college. 
She should surely aim to secure such experience. She will 
be wise, however, if she tries out in available ways her abil- 
ity to teach the Bible or a mission class, to lead in various 
forms of Christian service, to speak on her feet and to offer 
public prayer. Whatever will develop an experimental 
knowledge of the power of prayer, of the reality of comrade- 
ship with Christ, of the ability to deal with the spiritual 
needs of others, will be of supreme value. 


2. Further Preparation After College. 


Most young women expecting to marry and go to the 
foreign field have, on graduating from college, at least a 
year or two to devote to the special preparation for their 
responsibilities. All that is said elsewhere’ regarding the 
preparation of women for special tasks on the field applies 
to the missionary wife. 

Robust health is, of course, a primary need. Physical 
preparation is as essential as the intellectual and the spirit- 
ual. To develop good habits regarding exercise and games, 
and also in regard to regular periods of rest, is wise. It must 
be borne in mind that the missionary wife has a double 
responsibility in this respect. Her husband’s usefulness may 
be seriously impaired if she is physically unfit for the strain 
of life on the field. The long list of valuable men who have 
been forced to resign on account of the ill-health of their 
wives speaks eloquently of the importance of the purely 
physical aspect of preparation. 

Another important question is that of dress. In early 
days many missionaries, especially those in the Far East, 
assumed the dress of their adopted country in order to lessen 
the gulf between the foreigner and the national. As Euro- 
pean customs and dress have become familiar, the mission- 
aries very generally have reverted to their own habits of 
dress. But today there are modes of dress for women, to 
which the American public has become accustomed, which 

*See the pamphlets referred to in the bibliography. 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 33 


outrage the sense of decency of Eastern peoples. Remon- 
strances have actually come from certain groups of nationals 
who fear the effect upon their women folk of the vulgarities 
of these vogues. One who is planning an outfit for the mis- 
sion field will do well to consult a furloughed missionary 
from the field to which she is assigned, in order to ascertain 
the prejudices or mental attitudes with which she needs to 
reckon. In all cases it is safe for her to avoid extremes in 
dress. 

(a) Methods of Work with Children and Youth—Much 
of the outside work of a missionary wife will have to do with 
responsibilities which affect little children. A knowledge of 
kindergarten principles and methods, of schemes of work 
with children of all sorts, of plays, games and songs that 
children love, will well repay time invested in this form of 
training. It is equally valuable to know about methods of 
work with boys and girls, such as scouting and campfire 
activities, which are rapidly becoming world wide. 

(b) Music and Art.—tThe ability to play simple hymns 
and to direct a group in singing is most useful. Whatever 
of larger musical capacity can be transferred to the field 
will prove to be a boon. Musical ability and the appreciation 
of art and literature not only enrich the home and its life, 
but enable the missionary wife to minister to a far larger 
circle outside of the home. 

(c) A Knowledge of Accounting—A knowledge of 
simple bookkeeping and of household accounting is almost 
indispensable. Few young people of college age have had 
the opportunity to take up responsible management of affairs 
or have learned how to make a budget and live by it. On 
the mission field, however, no haphazard accounting is toler- 
able. Hours, even days, of perplexity may be avoided by 
a little commercial training. The ability to use the type- 
writer and to handle manuscript work is useful. 

(d) A Knowledge of the Field and its Work.—It is 
unnecessary for every missionary wife to have exactly the 
same training as her husband, but she, as well as he, needs 
an introduction to her future environment. She needs some 
acquaintance with missionary history and methods, an intro- 


34. THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


duction to her special field, some experience in directed prac- 
tice service, and a brief training in phonetics. She is for- 
tunate, if circumstances permit her to attend, if only for one 
term, a well equipped school for missionary training in this 
country. Wherever it is feasible, it is a good plan for hus- 
band and wife to begin their comradeship in work by a 
course of study together before going to the field. 


IX. Tue First YEAR OR Two ON THE FIELD 


It would seem self-evident that, if a woman earnestly 
desires to make her life count to the utmost on the mission 
field, she will determine to let nothing interfere with acquir- 
ing the vernacular of her adopted people. And yet there are 
young missionary wives who fail to see the importance of 
joining their husbands in language study during the first 
year or two on the field. They take refuge behind the claims 
of their little children and the burdens of housekeeping and 
are content with the most meager knowledge of the com- 
monest expressions. Later on, when the children are grown 
and away at school, the wife, realizing her handicap, vainly 
seeks to pick up the abandoned study and finds it too late. 
The wise missionary wife will let nothing keep her from 
acquiring the speech of her people in the years in which 
language study is most rewarding. 

That it can be done is abundantly proved by missionary 
biography. Here is the record of a woman, who neither 
failed her children nor neglected her home, but, in spite of 
multitudinous duties and a really meager mental equipment, 
acquired a knowledge of the language which made it possible 
for her husband to say of her: 


“My wife’s great familiarity with the language was of very 
important service to me in translating, revising and editing the 
Scriptures. She never translated any of the Bible herself, but she 
was an acute and sound critic. I always read to her every chapter 
I translated and she often suggested improvements. Every final 
proof she attested twice: Those unacquainted with such work can 
scarcely comprehend the labor and the close attention required in 
such a task. There are nearly a million words in the Aneityumese 


THE MISSIONARY WIFE 35 


Bible, and perhaps more than 120,000 stops. Now, to read twice 
through the entire Bible, name those million words each time, and’ 
be certain that each word is correctly spelled, and also name twice 
over each one of those 120,000 stops and see that each one is 
inserted in its proper place—this is the drudgery of literature.” 


X. Tue Use oF THE FURLOUGH 


When a missionary wife has been for one term on the 
field and comes back to the homeland for the first vacation, 
she will be fortunate if domestic conditions permit her to 
share in the opportunity afforded her husband to take such 
studies as will fit him for larger service in the remaining 
years of his ministry abroad. Like him, she will not only 
feel the need of a spiritual and mental refreshing, but will 
crave some specific instruction along lines which will fit her 
for special leadership on the field. It is important that the 
wife, as well as the husband, shall discover out of the years 
of experience some of her greatest needs, and seek to satisfy 
them. For the one who thus becomes conscious of an inade- 
quate equipment for her varied task, the first furlough offers 
another opportunity for preparation. A consultation with 
colleagues, with Board secretaries and with others qualified 
to offer advice will yield valuable suggestions as to the wise 
courses for furlough study.” 


XI. In Conclusion 


Thus far the technique of the matter! It is a serious 
business to be a missionary wife, and to found a missionary 
home. All that is written and much more would fail ade- 
quately to express the preparation which may fitly go into 
the making of such a home. Over and above it all one longs 
to express joyful congratulations to those happy ones who 
are going to the field as home-makers and wives. You who 
are to share another’s work and play, life and love, go for- 


1TIn the bibliography is noted a very helpful pamphlet which discusses the 
missionary furlough and how to use it. 


36 THE MISSIONARY WIFE 


ward eagerly, fearlessly, claiming the “one-hundred fold’ 
which the Master promised. 

When Almighty God was ready to make the supreme 
revelation of His love to the world, He chose a woman in a 
home and her little Child to be His medium of expression. 
The sure reward of deep and abiding joy awaits those who 
seek to make God’s love shine through their homes into the 
dark places of the earth, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


It is obviously impracticable to list many books which 
illumine the theme of this pamphlet. The following are 
volumes or articles which contribute, intentionally or indi- 
rectly, to the reader’s knowledge of the problems of a mis- 
sionary wife and of their solution. 


Platt, Mary Schauffler. The Home with the Open Door. New 
York, Student Volunteer Movement, 1920. 


A valuable study, by one with an unusual background of experience, of the 
missionary home, its importance and how to use it. It includes (pp. 23-28) 
an invaluable outline for the guidance of the observation and reflection of a 
young married woman during her early years of missionary experience. 


Sheffield, Mrs. D. Z. The Wives of Missionaries: Their Status, 
Preparation and Work. Article in the “Chinese Recorder” for 
March, 1919, pp. 162-176. 


A plea out of a long and busy life for a more generous recognition of the 
place of the missionary home-maker and of her need of special preparation. 


Baird, Annie L. A. Inside Views of Mission Life. Philadelphia, 
Westminster Press, 1913. 


An intimate view of the varied phases of such work as a missionary’s wife 
in Korea is constantly doing. Particularly strong in the sympathetic attitude 
of a woman toward the needs of the common people. 


Counsel to New Missionaries. New York, Presbyterian Board 
of Foreign Missions, 1905. 

Chapter six, written by Mrs. Helen S. C. Nevius, deals with the home life 
of missionaries. 


Lawrence, Edward A. Modern Missions in the East, New York, 
Revell (c 1901). 


Written years ago, yet the first important contribution to the science of 
missions in English. Chapter eight, entitled “The Home and Rest of the 
Missionary,” is suggestive and, in the main, applicable to present conditions. 


Blaikie, W. G. Personal Life of David Livingstone. New York, 
Revell (pref. 1880), n.d. 


The standard life of the great missionary explorer. In it Mrs. Livingstone 
is given her rightful place as an inspiring and hopeful factor in his life, 
although her life was necessarily apart from his. 


37 


38 BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Shedd, Mrs. W. G. The Measure of a Man. New York, Revell, 
1922. 


Mrs. Shedd, in this fine appreciation of the life of her husband, gives her 
own measure also; and, incidentally, much of the Persian setting of their life 
together. 


Speer, R. E. The Foreign Doctor. New York, Revell (c 1911). 


This life of a great missionary statesman and physician has as its living, 
strengthening background the home life which alike blessed his family and 
the community and state. 


Gamewell, Mrs. Mary Ninde. The Gateway to China. New 
York, Revell (c 1916). 


Chapter V deals with housekeeping problems. 


Smith, George. Twelve Pioneer Missionaries. London, Nelson, 
1900. 


One of these interesting stories is that of Hannah Marshman, the mission- 
ary wife, who started the first girls’ school in India. 


Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. Howard. Hudson Taylor in Early Years. 
2d ed., London, Morgan, 1912. 


Pt. VI deals with marriage and settled work. 


Cabot, Dr. Richard C. Love’s Allies. Article in “The World of 
Tomorrow” for April, 1923, p. 119. 


An article which deals in a stimulating manner with the relationship of 
husband and wife. 


Mackintosh, Catharine W. Coillard of the Zambezi. New York, 
American Tract Society, 1907. 


The best study in English of the fruitful life of Madame Coillard. 


Padwick, Constance E. White Heroines in Africa. London, 
United Council for Missionary Education (1914). 


The story of three missionary women who made homes. 


Serrell, Jeanne M. Lives of Great Missionaries. New York, 
Revell, 1922. 


Contains two vivid sketches of Mary Slessor and of the Coillards. 


Hubbard, Ethel D. Anne of Ava. New York, Missionary Edu- 
cation Movement, 1913. 
A sketch of the life of Mrs. Adoniram Judsen. Her service as related to 


her husband’s welfare has rarely been excelled. Their life together was an 
unending romance. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 39 


Mackenzie, Jean K. Black Sheep: Adventures in West Africa. 
Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1916. 


Vivid narratives which set forth many of the problems of the woman 
missionary, whether married or single, to a primitive people. 


Livingstone, W. P. Mary Slessor of Calabar. London, Hodder 
and Stoughton, 1916. 

The story of a queenly woman who did a pioneering work of great diffi- 
culty, through her great sympathy, devotion to individuals and her influence 
over the tribesmen. 


Moffat, John S. The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat. New 
York, Armstrong, 1888. 


A tribute from a missionary leader to his mother, who, in many respects 
in her own sphere, was equal to her husband in his wider relations. 


The Missionary Furlough. New York, Committee of Reference 
and Counsel, 1921. 


A special pamphlet which offers much helpful advice regarding this impor- 
tant period in the working life of every missionary. 


Pamphlets on Preparation for Types of Mission Service. 


The Committee of Reference and Counsel at 25 Madison Avenue, New 
York City, publishes several inexpensive pamphlets on the preparation for 
various types of work for women, such as “The Evangelistic and Social 
Worker Among Women,” or “The Missionary Nurse.” The first-mentioned 
pamphlet is of value and interest to all women going to the foreign field. 


Pamphlets on Preparation for Areas of Mission Work. 


The Committee of Reference and Counsel also publishes a series of inex- 
pensive pamphlets of great value on different areas, such as China, Africa, 
India, Japan, and so on. Any candidate will find it worth while to secure the 
pamphlet relating to the area to which he or she plans to go. 















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Bin. siden iene Bie 
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PUBLICATIONS ON 


Missionary Preparation 
and ‘Training 
OF INTEREST TO JUNIOR MISSIONARIES 


GENERAL MISSIONARY SERVICE 


The Missionary Furlough. 
25 cents postpaid. 


The Missionary Wife. 
25 cents postpaid. 


The Preparation of Missionaries for Literary Work. 
15 cents postpaid. 


The Specialized Training of Missionaries. 
50 cents postpaid. 


THE PRESENTATION OF CHRISTIANITY 
The Presentation of Christianity in Confucian Lands. 
50 cents postpaid. 


The Presentation of Christianity to Hindus. 
50 cents postpaid. 


The Presentation of Christianity to Moslems. 
50 cents postpaid. 


The Presentation of Christianity to Buddhists. 
(Almost ready.) 


For the above, address the Committee of Reference and 


Counsel, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, or send a request 
to your own Board. 


THE WORLD’S LIVING RELIGIONS 


A series published with the approval of the Committee of 
Reference and Counsel by The Macmillan Company, 70 Fifth 
Avenue, New York City. Each $1.00 postpaid. Other volumes 
to follow. 


The Religion of Lower Races as illustrated by the African 
Bantu. (May, 1923.) 

Buddhism and Buddhists in Southern Asia. (May, 1923.) 

Foism and the Buddhists of China. (November, 1923.) 

Roman Christianity in Latin America. (November, 1923.) 





